The present invention relates to a novel cabinet structure for supporting and enclosing vertically stacked electronic equipment such as sound amplifiers, switches, gauges, speakers, tape decks, electric receptacles, video monitors, ventilating fans and equipment pull-out drawers. It is well known to provide cabinet structures, also known as electronic or industrial equipment racks, which allow the user to secure any combination of desired equipment in any desired order along the vertical extent of each cabinet. Multiple cabinets may also be placed side-to-side in modular fashion to enclose any number of electronic components. Such systems may be utilized for a miraid of different applications, for example, to house an audio amplification and distribution system for a school or factory.
Prior art equipment cabinets have been constructed almost exclusively of formed, sheet metal. In order to provide sufficient strength the sheet metal is fabricated with multiple bends or convolutions. This convoluted steel is utilized as corner posts and are tack welded to formed, sheet metal top and bottom pieces to produce the cabinet support structure. In order to neatly and aesthetically place or bank multiple cabinets laterally, it is important that they be perfectly rectangular and rest level on the floor. To this end the sheet metal must be provided with multiple bends properly dimensioned with tolerances to the thousandths of an inch. Utilizing this method of construction will inevitably produce imperfections in component parts resulting in cabinets which are difficult and more expensive to assemble and possibly imperfect in banked appearance.
Further problems which have been associated with formed, sheet metal construction are the lack of suitable, inexpensive floor leveling means; lack of caster attachment means which do not cause instability difficulties; lack of an easily removable aesthetically pleasing side wall panel which is substantially tamper-proof; and the lack of inexpensive, strong and simple door hinge structures for front and rear cabinet doors.
Another prior art cabinet has utilized a frame comprised of aluminum extrusions connected at the corners by die cast elements with set screws. This approach has proven to be much more expensive than that of formed sheet metal cabinets or that of the present invention and has therefore not been widely accepted.